Author Wes Locher has teamed up with Stratics for a giveaway of his new book Braving Britannia. This book explores the history and impact of Ultima Online and includes interviews from current and past dev team members as well as many UO and Stratics community members. Click here for more details!

In Release 30 we introduced the first companion, Fiona Fitzowen, who was the archetype of the principle of Love. Our intent has always been to follow her up with at least two other companions to represent the two other principles of Truth and Courage. It has also been our intent to create unique art for these pivotal characters.

We are excited that in Release 52 not only will we finally be adding the companions of Truth and Courage but we will also be giving these characters unique art! The companions support avatars in the Offline mode by accompanying them along their adventures. They comment on where the player goes during the main quest and will even talk to each other on occasion.

Companion of Courage: Conrad Dupre, Knight of Norgard.

Conrad’s lineage is that of a soldier’s soldier. He has fought under the banner of Valhold for his entire life, from his childhood as a squire to a dissolute noble to the years of struggle against the Kobolds (a race which he both respects and despises). In addition to his mastery of swords, shields, and heavy armor, he has a veteran’s knowledge of Life magic, as well – not a great deal, but enough to keep himself and those around him fighting when others would fall.

Most who know him respect him, for he has little tolerance for cowardice or fear. But if he has any failing he also has little of a knight’s respect for those under his care. Norgard is at war, and he will brook no weakness in its time of greatest peril. Conrad knows much of the martial arts, but unlike his impeccably forged sword Silverthorn, the heart of his courage still requires tempering.

Avatars will meet him early on in their journey through the Path of Courage, in the fortified garrison of Resolute.

Companion of Truth: Ariel Rosehaven

One of Novia’s most learned scholars, Ariel has been walking the path of Truth longer than many have been alive. Not one for being kept in the confines of a library, she will think nothing of taking up her quarterstaff and a bindle filled with a few of her beloved books and going to test in the field what others are content to merely argue about from safe confines. She has studied alongside Kobold technicians and Elven lorespeakers (racism being one of the many things that will cause her to ‘lecture’) and her knowledge of magic is second to few.

When she heard that an outlander had been seen at the site of an elven massacre, she, of course, had to meet this person and take their measure. What happens next is hard to predict. Many have underestimated the unassuming older woman in a cloak and quarterstaff, and learned that the truth is not always what it seems.

“NEVER ask a lady her age, or her past. Or anything else she is likely to tell you.”

The Avatar will meet Ariel Rosehaven in Aerie. It simply is not up for discussion.

Companion of Love: Fiona Fitzowen

Fiona is a bard in every sense of the word – a master of the lute, someone who will usually sing a song when prompted (and often when not) and without fail, will have something to say about the situation she finds herself in (and she seems to find herself in many) which will infuriate some and entertain more.

Fiona is not one for fighting, but does keep a triple crossbow ready when necessary (or when on the road and hunger beckons). She knows a smattering of magical arts, but like most travelling bards, just enough to be amusing.

Many claim to have stolen Fiona’s heart; it is an illusion she is happy to perpetuate. In fact, if you ask who her current love is, she will quickly change the subject. For someone who makes a living at telling stories, that is a tale she is not yet willing to tell. She is drawn to the Avatar, but not in the romantic way everyone assumes. But… that is a tale she is better off spinning.

Fiona can usually be found in Peladjar’s Tavern in Ardoris, singing for her lodging and her amusement.

The Making of Northwood

The town of Northwood is located in the grasslands far to the north of Brittany near the western coast of Spindrift Bay in the North Paladis region. Rumors are spreading that the town boasts some remarkable similarities to locations on Earth known as Britannia Manor and Castleton but surely that must be coincidence? Northwood is based on the Grasslands POT template and is being rebuilt for Release 52. As with other town rebuilds the locations of player lots, merchant locations, and scene exits will not be changed.

Here’s some early progress on the uncloning of Northwood (Before and After shots):

I liked a lot of the look and feel of Northwood, and tried to keep to the ‘sleepy forest village’ vibe while still trying to make improvements.

Before: South Entrance

After: South Entrance

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Before: A view of the town

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Before: The Blacksmith Shop

After: The Blacksmith Shop

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More to come soon! Thanks for following our progress!

World Builder
Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski

The Making of Blood River Forest

Blood River Forest is a Tier 3 adventuring area in the Longfall region north of Blood River Outskirts. Elves in the region have built a fish hatchery by diverting local waterways. These elves are highly suspicious of all outsiders because of the recent events around Blood River with the vigilante groups. The area also includes the ruins of an ancient stepped pyramid and an abandoned copper strip mine.

Hey guys! SorcerousSteve here to give you a sneak peak of my latest map the Blood River Forest!

Located in Verdantis along a tributary of the Blood River the Blood River Forest is a lush area inhabited by wary elves. Located within its forested trails there is a fish hatchery and an open pit copper mine alongside some other mysteries to be revealed in the coming weeks.

The Blood River Forest Fish Hatchery.Located deep in the forest this fish farm focuses on the breeding, processing, and distribution of fish for market. It has several large fish tanks, 2 fish storage facilities, a smoke room, and full distribution center.

A fish pool can be seen in the foreground with a water tower off in the distance.

The fish smoke room where fish are smoked for preservation.

More fish tanks containing different varieties of fish.

A road cutting through the Blood River Forest heading West.

An elven run open pit copper mine deep in the forest. This elven operation was under full swing until they unearthed some copper golems that have now infested the area and begun to push the elves out.

YouTube: We got the video of the Postmortem posted to youtube for those of you who missed it.

Missed Questions: We had over 13 pages of questions left unanswered after the R51 Postmortem! With assistance from the team we were able to get to those questions and we posted them to the forums Thursday.

Here are the questions that we did not have time to get to during the R51 Postmortem (which is also now on youtube). I tried my best to answer these (with help from the rest of the team) but some we just don’t have details yet to provide. I probably won’t have time to do any follow ups to these. The community did a great job assisting us this telethon to make sure we didn’t miss a single question.

Please note I deleted a bunch of duplicated questions and also deleted any questions that we answered with the Q1 post or with the release of R51 or that we answered in previous postmortems. Also note that we are generally going to stop answering questions about “when?” as those are answered by our quarterly schedule posts and any other answers are going to be either “No ETA” or “soon” or “will update with the next quarterly post”.

Echondas: Since the R50 damage smoothing, stacking glyphs and attacks from behind are no longer quite as useful, since they seem to be smoothed/normalized by this – perhaps there can be some adjustment? Same for the Escape skill.CHRIS: I think this is an illusion because people look for max hits vs average DPS. The max hits were reduced but min hits were increased so DPS should still be roughly the same. I’ve had a few people confirm that the DPS was unchanged but I’ll take a look at the global logs and examine a bigger dataset to try and verify that belief.

Kpopgurl: Kor pointed out that high crit rate becomes less effective the higher it is. Can we change that a little so leather armor becomes more viable to use?CHRIS: I will be changing the math on this for R52 because Kor won’t leave me alone until I do…

Pleasedrivefast: Quantifying your performance improvements, how much further away from your goal do you feel and is that achievable before launch?STARR: We are very, very close and we have identified the last few blockers that we hope to have solved in R52.CHRIS: We’re getting closer to a good starting point and hope to have some more of the critical issues fixed for R52. There will still be tons of room for improvement though, starting with moving to Unity 2018.1 which adds a technology called IL2CPP. This effectively compiles c# code into CPP code and then builds it natively per platform. There will also still be plenty of room for improvements in high player count scenarios due to us not having LODs for most character content. In other words, just like most releases over the past 6 months, it will be better but still room for improvement!

Kron Caledon: The Bone Armor recipe currently only uses cotton thread. Can you adjust that to accept any type of thread (carapacian, fustian, etc.) – to allow more combinations for crafting?BRANDON: Thread is a refined material and not a component therefore it does not add properties to the final crafted item. Allowing players to use any type of thread would allow you to use a more expensive material for the exact same result thus it is restricted to the cheapest refined material. Because each of our recipes are required to be a unique combination some recipes require refined material that is treated like fuel.

That_Shawn_Guy: We don’t have many “rustic” style large houses, simple halls (large single room), or large craftable houses. Can we get some please?STARR: Yes we are going to be expanding the number of craftable houses soon. In R52 in fact we are adding a craftable inn.

Ancev: How about if all of the accrued loot acquired in a PvP zone is put at risk by being put into a ‘PvP supply bag’ … maybe like hourly, if you’re there for 2 hours you’d have 2 supply bags at risk…? the time at which you loot the items determines which bag the items end up in.. (these pvp supply bags are invisible to the player) but show up in the ransom window if they are drawn through the ransom system and can’t be paid for.STARR: We have wanted to do something like this for a very long time and at the same time up the amount of resources in PVP areas but also link the amount of resources to the number of players in a scene.CHRIS: Absolutely love this idea and it is something we’ve talked about a few times both publicly and behind closed doors. Basically, loot obtained in a PVP scene would basically go into a sort of escrow system until some goal has been achieved. I could even see some PVP scenes where there are some very rare but powerful resources/items/bundles that would drop and announce to the scene who got them to make them a target. Only way to get to keep the item is to get out of the scene. If you die, it passes to the killer. Lots of fun options and many of them will be acted on post launch.

Richard Garriott has been making video games his whole life, and is considered one of the founding fathers of the video game industry.

He entered high school in 1974, and taught himself to code by making games, starting by using the Teletype and later the Apple II to create a game he subtitled Akalabeth—the first video game that showed three-dimensional graphics.

At the turn of the 1980s, he began work on the Ultima series, a long-running series of games. Garriott’s hallmark was using virtue and values in his games, and he always strived to use the art of video games to tell deep and meaningful stories.

When the internet became widely used in the 1990s, he used it to create multi-player online environments with Ultima IV, the first game to bring together tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, and later millions of gamers to play with each other in a virtual world.

Every step of the way, Richard Garriott collected: magic props, architectural antiques, children’s games, 35mm film rolls from the birth of the industry, and, of course, every note, line of code, and detail from his own work in video games.

Today, the video game industry is growing to be bigger than all other media combined. Many modern games, in Garriott’s view, use new computing power to sell “bells and whistles,” but, he notes, “while they will sell great, I do not believe they will be remembered, because they are very quickly surpassed by the next generation of bells and whistles.”

Richard Garriott continues to draw inspiration from beyond the gaming industry itself, using his interests in history, science, culture, and philosophy, to strive to make games that are original, compelling, and lasting.

The launch of Shroud of the Avatar is coming up on March 27 and we’re celebrating in a big way by giving away bundles of the game and in-game items at SXSW! Even those that can’t make it out to see us can participate in the fun!

Here’s what you need to know. There are two separate giveaways, one that starts now and ends on April 2 after SXSW and Launch. This is an All-Players Sweepstakes that anyone can sign up for. The second giveaway is exclusive for those who visit our booth at SXSW. Together these giveaways include a chance for you to win a free game key and some additional sweet in-game loot.

To participate in this giveaway, all you need to do is have an account on the Meretz App. Users of the app will receive points that go toward one of the following prizes. Anyone can participate, though anyone at SXSW and completes the scavenger hunt portion will receive a bonus amount of entries toward the prizes below.

How to Get Entries:

Get 3,000 Meretz Points per day (worth 1 sweepstakes entry)

10 bonus entries per Scavenger Hunt check-in at SXSW (details will be posted at our booth)

Keep an eye out for “Easter eggs” for extra bonus entries!

See the Meretz app for additional details

Digital Prizes:

Grand Prize: A Town Bundle of their choice (value: $1699)

2nd Prize: A Village Tax Free Bundle of their choice (value: $574)

3rd Prize: A 2-Story Row Bundle of their choice (value: $299)

The sweepstakes will conclude a couple of weeks after SXSW on April 2 with winners announced on that week’s Community Livestream.

Entries are confirmed by using the Meretz App, so be sure you are running the app when on the scavenger hunt or elsewhere! You can check your progress in the app.

NO DOLLAR VALUE PURCHASE NECESSARY. THIS IS A CHANCE-BASED CONTEST. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

GIVEAWAY #2: Daily Booth Giveaway

Visit the booth (#2516) each day to pick up a ticket for a chance to win a free game key! Participants must be present at 5:30pm CT back at the booth for the drawing. Winners are randomly selected with 5 entries given away each day. Tickets may be redeemed on other days while at SXSW, but can only be redeemed once.

NPC Submission Request: Graff Island

Earlier this release Scott “Lum” Jennings posted our latest request for NPC submissions for Graff Island. This is for Developer+ level backers who are eligible for the “Design an NPC” reward “Help create and name a character in the game”.

For reference here is our current status on which towns we have done this work on and which towns remain to be done:

Thank you for your continuing support of Shroud of the Avatar! This month, we’re seeking entries for inhabitants of Graff Island!

Graff Island is the home of the spectacularly wealthy Graff family. Their patriarch, Lauran Graff, discovered the secret magic locked within the games found in his namesake mine, and mages throughout the realm seek out Mystic Graff Gems for the potency of their spellcrafting. This has made the Graff’s private island a popular and wealthy retreat – both for those wanting a bit of safety off the beaten track, and for those wishing to find a way to reach the notorious Master Graff himself!

Graff Island is the only town we will be seeking submissions from for R52, due to other work being done this release. If you do NOT want your backer NPC to be in Graff Island, you may want to wait. I will update this thread if we are running low on submissions – generally we are OK on duplicate submissions for characters who don’t get adopted (such as guards) but if you absolutely have a character who should be in a given city (such as Brittany) you should wait until we advertise for that city.

First, some brief notes:

Graff Island is one of our “uncloning” scenes, where we go back and fill out unique content for each village and city. Thus, the NPCs are already in the game, but we can change appearance (to a degree, as seen below), gender, etc. to suit your request. If you want to pick a specific NPC (for example, one near your own house) we will do our best to accomodate you but may not be able to.

NPC visual customization, as you may have noticed, is still at a very early stage in development. Right now for the backers who want to be added to Graff Island, we cannot offer any visual customization options beyond our standard gallery of NPC models. If you would like to have input over the visual customization of your NPC, you can wait for further releases when we can offer this. We will also allow a one-time visual re-customization once customization has been added if you would like to add your NPC now.

Response to this will be on a first-come first-served basis for each call for responses. If your NPC doesn’t appear in Graff Island, feel free to respond again in future posts. We have quite a few towns and cities to populate (over 18, actually…)

We are allowing people who have already submitted NPCs to submit their ideas for Graff Island as well if they like, but people who have not yet submitted an NPC will take priority over those who have.

When responding, please list a first and second choice for profession.

There are a few NPCs which already have been placed as part of the main quest (Lauran Graff, etc.) which will not be changed.

NPCs for Graff Island can be human. And no, you can’t be related to the Graffs.

NPC background (optional): A paragraph on whom your NPC is, how they would respond to nosy outlanders poking about their business, what brings them to Graff Island (or keeps them there), or anything else you’d like to add. We reserve the right to edit and/or reject any background that does not fit the lore and setting of the game.

Please specify in your submission that this NPC is for Graff Island.

We will respond if: your NPC is used; if it is rejected for whatever reason (such as an inappropriate name); if a supplied background is inappropriate, or if your NPC missed the cutoff for this release.

Please note this is a reward for Founder era Developer level or above pledges.

Thanks for your support, and hope you find a gem in Graff Island!

URGENT: Confirm Your Physical Rewards Shipping Address!

We are extending the deadline to confirm your physical address to March 9, 2018.

If you are receiving physical goods as part of pledge rewards, and have not yet confirmed your physical address, please do so now.

For those who are receiving physical goods and have confirmed their physical addresses, you will receive another email from us stating the shipping address we have for you on file. At that time, please verify we have the correct address.

Thank you for your patience! We could not have made Shroud of the Avatar without your support!

The Ambassadors Program: How You Can Help

Dear Avatars,

To prepare for the growth of the Community after the official launch, we are looking for passionate Avatars, longtime citizens of Novia, to be volunteer Ambassadors of Shroud of the Avatar. We need those who exemplify the value of Avatars in the way they interact with the Community and help welcoming, onboarding, and supporting newcomers in their native language.

We are excited to initiate this project that empowers our Community to have even more impact and influence on its own expansion and evolution!

SotA Ambassadors will have a multifunctional role, being representatives and also caretakers of the Sub-Communities of a specific language. Their mission is to welcome and onboard the outlanders who are new to the Community, in their native language, and maintain the respective language forum as a fun and friendly place. In order to do so, the Ambassadors will have some moderation permissions for the section of the respective language, on the Forum as well as on Discord.

If you are one of those Avatars who can call New Britannia their home, uphold the Community Guidelines in an exemplary way, and are willing to actively help the Community Management team with this mission, keep reading to find out more about this role!

From AERIE Fund: We’re excited to announce the next episode of AERIE Fund LIVE – a monthly news/talk show on Twitch focusing on charitable works in gaming, community causes, and special guests from the gaming development and streaming world who are making a difference.

Batten down the hatches! The Lord of Chaos himself will join the AERIE Fund crew as we celebrate the official launch of Shroud of the Avatar! We’ll chat about Portalarium’s awesome new title (SotA), their groundbreaking road to launch, and the altruistic culture Portalarium has built around the importance of giving and gaming. Don’t miss it!

A spokesperson from Water.org will also join us to discuss their important work in tackling the global water crisis, how you can help in their mission, and our Ripple Effect 2018 Community Cause campaign.

Visit AERIE Fund on YouTube to catch all the archived action. Subscribe and we’ll do a happy dance!

Free Trial: Choose Any Path!

Free Trial access allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play. You will be able to explore hundreds of scenes, talk with thousands of players, adventure through the opening quests, and gain experience and skills as you get used to the world of New Britannia!

Here is the updated list of Visitor limits:

The term (Visitor) is appended to their character name

Max skill level set to 50

NEW! Limited to a single Story Path (Truth, Love or Courage)

Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors

No ownership of player property nor use of player property signs

Cannot move/interact with items on a player property (even if given permissions)

Cannot interact with public chests

Cannot give items to other players via Trade or Mail

Cannot flag as Open PVP

Cannot gain nor create ransom items when you kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)

Character data may be deleted if not eventually upgraded to a paid account

In honor of skill specializations going live, we are putting a selection of weapons and armor on sale this weekend! Get a look at the items on sale below. You can also view each item individually in the Add-On Store:

Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events.

Charity: AERIE Fund – Community Cause – Ripple Effect

Join AERIE Fund as we support Water.org in their mission to deliver access to safe water and sanitation to communities in the developing world.

Water.org is an international nonprofit organization that has positively transformed millions of lives around the world through access to safe water and sanitation. Founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, Water.org pioneers market-driven financial solutions to the global water crisis. For more than 25 years, they’ve been providing families with hope, health and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.

From Vyrin and Womby: Join Vyrin and Womby on Sunday, March 11 at 10 AM in Soryn Field. A line is already forming outside the new store! Soryn Field is just outside of Resolute. Just up the docks and slightly left is the town’s amazing marketplace. Travel to the far side, and you will find our store. On the roof of our store, you can get a great view of the entire marketplace. If you can’t find us, just friend us.

Thanks to all our hosts, especially the fantastic @nick Cold. We are indebted to the wonderful Alpenglows, Hannah and Ulrich, for their loan of a skilled vendor who will be offering our latest releases!

We will have 35 new books for sale! Everyone who attends will receive a FREE copy of the Little Book of Gratitude 2017, a community compilation of thankfulness.

Getting Started Video: The Leather Chest Armor of Love

This week we spotlight Kabalyero’s ‘How to Get the Leather Chest Armor of Love’ video from the recent walkthrough video contest. Kabalyero will show you how to get it from the Lost Whiteguard Silver Mines in Solania.

For more walkthrough videos, subscribe to www.youtube.com/portalarium to get the latest releases. If you have a helpful video to share, we’ll add it to our YouTube playlist!

BatMUD is a text-based medieval fantasy game with an extremely rich set of features. Forever in development and online since 1990; for almost 28 years, it is one of the predecessors to the MMOs and a hidden jewel of the Internet.

Being a behemoth of a text game (with its game client’s only graphics for features assisting gameplay, such as a live realm map), a typical BatMUD gaming experience is counted in months or even years of actual gaming time. For the old timers, you can still of course also telnet into the game, if you so wish!

Stratics is the oldest continually running MMORPG Fansite on the Internet. Founded in 1997 Stratics has served the Ultima Online Community for 18 years. We strive to provide the most complete social experience for Ultima Online players.